The Spirit of Fear
by AlabrithGaiamoon
Summary: Mysorryexcuse4aghoststoryThe Tantei goes on a trip for Halloween to a manor in the mountains, hosted by Lil, an OC. More things await them than just Lil's grandfather. COMPLETE!
1. Default Chapter

The Spirit of Fear

Halloween, the only night of the year where people of any age can dress up and do stupid things like scare small children and ask complete strangers for candy. Well, that and New Year's, depending on how drunk you are. Every one knows spooky stuff always happens on Halloween, due to the abundance of spirits and ghosts that are permitted to wander the mortal realm. This is the context in which a curse takes place. But the scariness hasn't begun yet, its only 12:00 pm.

"Yusuke, leave the frikin' radio alone! If you screw up the dual play in this van, my step-mom will kill me!" Lil slapped the hands of a Spirit Detective in the front seat, while swerving dangerously on the road. She was hosting a Halloween vacation in the house of a close relative. Lil was an old friend of Yusuke's from grade school.

Yusuke rubbed the back of his handed offended, "I'm just trying to change the channel from static, we went out of local radio stations' range hours ago!"

"You don't even listen to the channels enough to tell what they are!"

"Will you two stop fighting before Lil kills us all?" Keiko said from the front-middle row in the van. The front seat became quiet, but thick with angry tension. The seating of the van went as follows: Lil was driving, next to her in the middle was Yusuke, and beside him sat Botan. In the front-middle row of the van Keiko sat behind Lil, next to her were Shizuru and then Yukina. In the rear-middle row of the van were Jin, with his head hanging out the window in the breeze, Touya, sleeping quietly, and Kazuma, Shizuru's little brother. In the very back, very last row were Kurama and Hiei with one spare seat between them laden with a large cooler.

All eleven of the strange friends were starting to develop cabin fever, and sore rears from sitting so long. "Ey' lass, are we there yet? Me bum hurts and there's no room in 'ere!" Jin asked for the millionth time. Lil turned in her seat, glaring at the Wind master, flames trailing out of her eyes, and snarled viciously, with huge fangs. Jin gave a squeak and ducked out of her sight range. Turning back to the road, she growled through gritted teeth, "We'll _get_ there when we _get_ there!" The empty countryside surrounded them on all sides with no signs of letting up, except for the occasional field of crops or a small forest, and the sight of mountains looming ahead.

Lil was taking them to her grandfather's manor in the mountains. His large house was nestled in the center of a rocky mountain chain, somewhat isolated from tourists, cities, and the noise of people. "Look every one, the gates are just ahead!" Lil chirped happily, her mood swing forgotten. She slowed the speed of the van and stopped in front of a pair of wrought iron gates. Rolling down her window, she pressed the intercom switch next to the road. A voice spoke from the box, "Who goes there?"

"Its me, Grampa! Will you open the gates please?"

"Come on in," the voice chuckled as the mechanical barrier separated and allowed them passage. The long driveway took a minute to cross; it led the butt-weary travelers to the huge house in the forest around the mountains. I was an old Victorian looking house with four floors and a large lawn with many fruit trees scattered around. The travelers piled out of the van to stretch before unloading. Lil walked up to the house, where a man was waiting. He was tall and built strong, with black speckled gray hair and a bushy moustache with a friendly curl on either end. His brown eyes twinkled with mirth as he welcomed his granddaughter with a rib-crushing hug. He then turned to his ten other guests, "My name is James, welcome to the manor."


	2. Preparation

Chapter two

Preparation

"Yo, James! Long time no see!" Yusuke approached the older man. The veteran took the boy's hand in a warriors grip. "Boy, you've gotten taller since I last saw you. Is this your lady-friend, Keiko?" James gestured to the shortest female of the brown-haired company. Yusuke blushed and looked away. Keiko shook James' hand. "Its lovely to meet you James. Lil has told me a lot about you!"

"Has she? Yusuke is the only familiar face here; there are a good many new faces among you." Lil pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes using her sunglasses as a headband, revealing her green eyes. She pushed her friends into a rough line and pointed them out to her relative, "The long haired red-head is Suichi Minamino, but we call him Kurama; the spiky black-haired guy is Hiei, the tall brunette is Shizuru Kuwabara, the curly red-head is her brother Kazuma, the fluffy red-head is Jin, the smaller dude next to him is Touya, the tall blue-haired chick is Botan, and the shorter blue-haired mamacita is Yukina." The old man laughed heartily.

"So many new names and faces! I shall try my best to learn them all while you stay here. Between now and then, come! Allow me to show you around, don't worry about your luggage, it will be seen to." The white van became forgotten as they filed into the house and down the labyrinth halls. On the first floor were the dining hall, kitchen, drawing room, library and den; on the second floor were the guest rooms and other miscellaneous places; the third floor contained James' room, a small dojo, and an entertainment room; the fourth floor was prohibited. "I keep many delicate and antique things there, like an attic, only bigger." He said briefly. The guest rooms for the boys were located directly across from the girls, six rooms total, two people to a room except for Lil, being wrapped around James' finger as his only grandchild. Every room was connected to a small bathroom with a shower. The pairing of guests in each room goes as follows: Kurama and Hiei, Jin and Touya, Yusuke and Kuwabara, Shizuru and Botan, Keiko and Yukina, and Lil by herself. They found each of their belongings in their respective locations on the beds, waiting to be unloaded. Leaning out their doors, puzzled at having seen no servants of any kind to move their things, they heard Lil laugh softly, "My grampa works in mysterious ways." Jin flew up and down the halls. "I like this place, there's lots 'a room, and plenty of those pretty-smellin' trees outside to fly around! Like the one hanging on the mirror in the van." he laughed his cheery laugh.

"They're called pine trees, Jin." Kurama, the resident botanist chuckled.

"Jin, you can't fly around here!" Touya said.

"He's right, my grampa would have a heart-attack if he saw you flyin' around!" Lil yanked him down from the ceiling, "if you kill my grampa I'll-!" a tap on her shoulder diverted her mounting rage. She turned and blanched. "Eek! Grampa, hey, uh…what'cha doin'?" the old man eyed his blonde granddaughter warily, but with a smile.

"I was just about to ask you to do a bit of shopping for me; with a house of a dozen people, food would be scarce within the first few hours. Why don't you and the ladies take a trip to town a little way down the road and pick up some supplies?" James led the girl out of the house and back to the van. James really loved to have company, and he loved being a host to ladies even more. He held the van door open for each of the girls, making them blush. "I'll be back in an hour or two, grampa. Don't kill the boys while I'm gone!" Lil waved from the driver's seat. "Have fun, don't worry about them, I'll keep'em in one slice for you!"

As she turned out of the driveway, she muttered, "I just hope the boys don't screw up."

Yusuke was walking the length of the small dojo with Jin, while Hiei and Kuwabara were in a scrap again, with Kurama as the referee. Touya was already at the end of the dojo where large windows displayed the front yard, and watched the van leave. "Ya think the lass's granddad would mind if we wrangled a bit, Urameshi?" the fast talking Irish wind master addressed Yusuke.

"Uh…yes?" this provoked more laughter. Yusuke punched him to shut him up. "I won't use my Rei-gun if you don't use your wind powers. I'd hate to lose a sparring partner because Lil killed you for flying."

"Savy!" (That's pirate talk, sorry.) The two stood back from each other and took their fighting stances. They went on with speed a normal human could comprehend, using mainly grappling techniques. The floorboards creaked as they slammed each other into it. Unknown to them, the others were watching out of sheer boredom. Jin held Yusuke's head in a headlock for several seconds before the detective franticly signaled defeat. Jin released him and noticed why Yusuke had stopped; James was watching with raised eyebrows, his mouth reduced to a dot and hidden by his moustache. "Do you two fight often? Or is this some sport to you?" he asked cautiously.

"We pummel each other for sport!" Jin answered with a grin, "And sometimes for revenge." James clapped his hands together, "Its good to see the fighting spirit in people so young! I was curious, maybe one of you boys would take pity and have a short duel with this doddering old man. I do love to spar, but I live alone, with no one to spar with. It gets quite boring you see."

"I'll duel with you, jiji." (Loosely: old man, or grandfather.) Hiei stepped up to the man tall man. James was over six feet tall, taller than even Kuwabara; Hiei, contrary to the widespread rumor of his height, had reached the old man's collar, not including his hair. "I noticed a katana concealed underneath your cloak, boy, I knew you had a swordsman's spirit in you." James walked to the wall nearest and pulled a wooden sword from the rack mounted on it. "Unless you have never known my granddaughter's wrath, I suggest you put that blade away and chose a safer weapon." Kurama, Jin, Touya, Yusuke, and Kuwabara watched in horror. Hiei had previously sensed the veteran's fighting spirit and carefully probed his mind for a range of his expertise; it included swordsmanship.

It was surprising enough the Jagan-wielding fire-yokai chose to duel with a mere human, but he surprised them even more when he hesitated, and then leaned his katana against the wall and took down a wooden sword. He also decided not to use his lightening-speed or stone-crushing strength, just his skill. The silent audience held their breath. Surely Hiei would crush the old man mercilessly!

The swordsmen squared off and took different styled stances. Hiei's of course Japanese, and James'… it was hard to say for the audience; they had only known Japanese swordsmanship, Hiei and Shishiwakamaru being the only two in a wide ranging group of friends with swords. Kuwabara...he didn't count. James pushed off from his spot with his left foot, his sword perfectly aligned in front of him. Spinning his wrist, he directed his sword in a strong thrust. Hiei dodged and brought his sword down on James. The old man was not as doddering as he seemed; he flipped his sword up and blocked the blow. "Good, you adapted to my style very easily; though I must admit yours is odd to me."

Hiei nodded in agreement and jumped above James' head, bringing a thundering blow from above. James blocked this attack; when his sword made contact with Hiei's, he slid his sword across Hiei's until it caught against the hilt. Using his sword as a lever, he heaved the smaller person across the room and crashed into a wall. James' speed and strength had surprised him. Greatly. Maybe he wouldn't have to lay off his powers after all…

Yukina observed the quantities of candy and pumpkins on sale in the store. Did all humans have a raging sweet tooth? What's a pumpkin? "Lil, why is the store selling so much candy? I don't understand why such cheerful looking people are dressed in black and hang scary spiders from the ceiling."

"Its just the spirit of the holiday, Yukina. Halloween is an ancient festival, dating back to the Celts, who honored the dead on this day. They dressed up as animals and other things as part of a ceremony and went to each other's houses to ask for food as part of a grand feast. They also hollowed out small vegetables and put embers in them to ward away evil spirits. In the present, children dress up and go from house to house and people give them candy. As for the pumpkins, when Europeans came to the American continent, they discovered pumpkins were much easier to hollow out and carve."

"I see, I think." Yukina laughed and smiled at a few children begging their mother to buy more candy. Shizuru and Botan appeared with a shopping cart full of things in addition to the ones Keiko and Lil were pushing. "Do you think we'll really need this much food? I mean this is only half of the list!" Botan fanned her flushed face with her hand.

"We'll be here for a while after Halloween, Botan. Besides, there are seven men in the house now."

"You mean six men, and my kid brother." Shizuru snickered.

"Oh come on, Shizuru, Kuwabara isn't that young any more. He survived the Dark Tournament, hasn't he? Doesn't that count as being a man?" Botan frowned.

"He still goes trick-or-treating, Botan." Shizuru's eyes narrowed, annoyed.

"Oh…"

"So?! I go trick-or-treating and I'm mature!" Lil huffed, pushing her shopping cart to another aisle. "I can't resist free candy; especially Reese's peanut butter cups, and Reese's pieces. Anything that combines chocolate and peanut butter…" Lil continued her one-sided conversation while drooling. The remainder of the sane company looked on in fear or shame.

When all the groceries had been bought, the staggering mountain of food was only matched with the bill. Half of it had to be delivered by truck. Yukina had purchased a pumpkin, eager to fashion a Jack o' lantern of her own, and try to make a pumpkin pie. Lil had not come out of her drooling trance and was confined to the passenger front seat for fear of running them off the road while muttering the names of random chocolate edibles. "Oooh, Twix, yummy, 'two for me, none for you,' Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!!" X-D

When the manor came into view, Lil had escaped her bonds and journeyed to the back seat, eating a package of cookies and hissing 'my precious' every so often, spraying crumbs all over a very annoyed Botan in the process. The truck driver stopped in front of the house and offered to help unload their van. He opened the back of the van and reached in to grab a bag; he pulled up Lil's head instead. "AAAAAAAHH!!" he screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAHH!!" Lil screamed back, flinging cookies at him. "My precious!!" she snarled with a similar expression she had given Jin when he asked her 'if they were there yet.' The poor man ran back to his truck, hurriedly unloaded the contents, and peeled out of the driveway. Laughing hysterically, Lil burrowed into the groceries in search of more sugar. Shizuru yanked the girl out by her ankle and plopped her on the ground. "Stay." She said tersely. Shizuru suddenly straightened and looked toward the house; Hiei's spirit energy was rising. Lil had also sensed her grandfather's spirit energy flickering, not in a weak way, but as if it had not been released in a long time. The two of them abandoned the groceries and ran inside the house.

Skidding to a halt in the doorway of the dojo, Lil assessed the sight before her. James and Hiei were in a fast paced, and almost war-like duel. Fire shown in both of the duelists' eyes. James made a mistake in his footing and shrank back; Hiei lunged with a sword-thrust. James ducked directly under Hiei's sword and made a foot-sweep, throwing the yokai to the floor; and set his sword across Hiei's throat. "Well done, boy," he said, breathing heavily.

"And you, jiji." Hiei said. James rose; Hiei allowed the older man to help him up, and they replaced their swords on the wall. James turned to the door and stopped, "Oh, granddaughter, I did not notice you had returned. Come, gentlemen, lets help the girls with the groceries." Dumbstruck, Lil looked to the others for answers. Kurama smiled and shrugged, the others did something of the same fashion and followed the old man out the door. Lil lagged behind and pulled Hiei back with her. "Did you let him beat you?" Hiei's piercing red eyes revealed nothing. "You're stronger than he is, why did you fight him?"

"Because he had skill. His style of swordsmanship is superior to my own; true I am faster and stronger, but those were not assets I used, only a fighting style." he turned and walked away.

When every thing had been put in order and dinner was cooking, the teens settled into the den to relax a bit. Jin seemed incapable of tranquility and was fighting the urge to fly. He wasn't used to staying on the ground when he didn't want to. The fact that his executioner was sitting right next to him was not helping either. Lil seemed callous to his discomfort. Yukina and Keiko were still in the kitchen attempting to make a Jack o' lantern. The preparations for Halloween were underway; the sun was setting. Let the games begin.

Hey, peoples; this is my first update since I decided to end my other yyh fic. I was pretty sad because it was a sad ending and so many people loved it, I hated to give them the end, but I had to do it. This fic now has my attention, and with the spirit of Halloween permeating through my house (along with the smell of snickers bars) for the next few weeks, I'm going to make this as scary as possible. I wont make any shonen-ai between the usual suspects like jin and touya, and kurama and hiei, I just can't write like that, but there will be a little fluff between keiko and yusuke, and maybe kuwa and yukina if I can. Ja!


	3. Released

Chapter three

Released

The sun set early in the autumn sky; a chilly breeze raked through the trees and rattled the bushes. A gentle rain began, showing no signs of letting up. "Seven o' clock, movie time!" Yusuke held out a cassette tape triumphantly. The box was titled, 'The Ring.' James shivered, "I think I'll stay in my study, I've never been a fan of horror films."

"You aren't going to hide somewhere and jump out at us are you?" Lil eyed him warily. James shook his head, "That would only be fun for me, and you would become very angry and well… you scare me when you're angry." The movie started without him. They were in the entertainment room, with the lights turned off and the volume of the big screen TV turned up. Botan, Yukina, and Keiko burrowed into the cushy couch cushions in front of the TV. Yukina sat in the middle with a huge tub of popcorn, every now and then the movie made her jump and the popcorn spilled over the edge of the container. Kurama, Jin, Touya, Yusuke and Kuwabara were mesmerized, sitting on a couch just behind the first on an elevated level, just like a movie theater. Hiei, not wanting to partake in viewing a movie that was not so scary to him, was content to eat the candy, and ice cream they had brought into the entertainment room but were too distracted to eat. The movie was over, but Lil made them all stay through the credits to watch the alternate ending past the credits when Yusuke stood up to go to the bathroom.

The nearest restroom was all the way down the hall, past the dojo. He stopped at the entrance to the dojo, the door was open and the light was on. He turned out the light without a second thought and continued on his journey. When he came back down the hallway, having completed his task, he saw the dojo's light had been turned on again. He reached for the light switch and turned out the lights again. He turned his back and walked no more than five steps before…_click! _

Yusuke spun on his heel; the light was back on. He stared for a moment before he chuckled, "Heh, nice try, but that's not very scary." He walked back to the dojo and flicked off the light again, but he hadn't even let go of the switch before they came back on again. Yusuke looked around; there was no one else in the room and no other light switch but the one under his trembling hand. The perturbed teen ran into the middle of the floor and jumped up to the ceiling, smashing the light out. Darkness engulfed him. He walked back to the door at a swift, stiff pace. He reached the door and put his hand on the frame to steady himself. The light clicked on. He whipped around and looked at the fixture; the bulb was smashed, useless and mangled, but an aura still emitted from it as if it were never harmed. The light began to blink on and off, on and off. Yusuke heard the sound of the light switch behind him; he turned and saw…

A little girl. She was dressed in a white night gown with short sleeves and bare feet. Her hair was long and brown, hanging flaccidly from her head. Her eyes were a stormy gray, and a small smile played on her pale lips. Yusuke stared at her, "Who the hell are you? And how did you get in here? As far as I know James only has one granddaughter."

She giggled, playing with the light switch more. She clicked off the light and when it came back on, she was gone. Yusuke stared at the spot where she stood, and then looked back to the bulb less light that still glowed.

Slowly backing out, he ran down the hall and burst into the entertainment room. He grabbed Kurama by the arm, being he the closest to the door, and dragged him back to the dojo. Kurama looked at the dark dojo and then back to Yusuke. "What's wrong with you?" the fox asked, "You look like you've seen a ghost." Yusuke gaped at the dark light fixture. "There was a little girl! She turned on the lights after I smashed them! She turned them on and off and then disappeared!" Yusuke said frantically. Kurama stared at him for several seconds before he smiled, "Nice joke, Yusuke. But I don't scare that easily." Kurama chuckled to himself and walked away. Yusuke stared at the room baffled and frightened. He ran after the fox, not wanting to be left alone.

'It's just Halloween getting to me; too much candy, it's the movie that's got my imagination out of whack. Yeah…' Yusuke tried to calm himself down, but a tingle traced his spine and made his stride increase. The movie had finally ended and the lights in the entertainment room came back on. The teens were chattering excitedly about the movie. Jin was leaning over the girls' couch along with Kuwabara and Touya. "Did ya see how Samara crawled out of the TV? Tha' was really scary!" Jin shivered while he talked.

"Yeah, and when she looked at him through her hair-!" Kuwabara put his hands across his face, leaving a space over one of his eyes, imitating the hair of the girl in the movie. "And she snarled at him, then- I was freakin' out!" he yelled.

Touya laced his fingers together, "I have to admit, that was very disturbing." A small smile graced his lips. Yukina gripped the empty popcorn container tightly, "That was… wonderfully horrifying! It was the scariest thing I have ever seen!"

"Yeah," Botan chimed in. "What did you think Shizuru?" Shizuru did not answer, Botan looked over to see Shizuru with her hair hanging over her face. "Ha, very funny Shizuru, you don't scare us." A hand shot out and latched onto Botan's arm, and a hiss emitted from behind Shizuru's hair. Botan screamed and jumped back, falling off the couch. The teen's laughed together, reminiscing on the horror. "Okay," Lil, said, enough telling that story over and over again, lets tell _more_ stories." She waved a candelabrum in the air. "What's with the candles? Run out of flashlights?" Yusuke mused. "Shut up Yusuke. I bet one of you has a story to tell. Cause if you don't, I do."

"I'll go," Kurama said. "I know of a story that is rather disturbing." The candelabrum was lit and placed on a small table in the center of the room, and the lights were turned off. "The story is called, 'the Little Black Box.'

_There was once a farmer who lived with is wife on a small farm in the middle of an isolated place._

"Ooh, scary, old MacDonald." Kuwabara mocked. Shizuru smacked him over the head and motioned for Kurama to continue.

_ The two of them always worked very hard because they had no children to help them. One day, they found themselves in financial debt they could not get out of. While weeding the garden, the farmer saw a man in a black suit approach his house. The man did not appear to have driven a car to their farm, but he also could not have walked all the way from the nearest town to their home. The farmer asked the man what he was doing here. The man answered, "I know you are in need of money, and I can help." _

_The farmer invited the man inside and they sat down together with the farmer's wife. The man said, "I have the answer to al of your financial problems in this box." He set a small box on the table, about three inches high, with plain black sides and a small red button on top. "If you push the button on this box, I will give you one million dollars." The farmer looked at the man and asked, "Is there a catch?" The man smiled lightly, "If you push the button on this box, it will kill some one; someone you have never met before; someone you will never meet in your entire life. Will you choose to kill an absolute stranger for one million dollars, or will you live in debt and let the stranger survive?" the farmer asked if they could have time to think it over. The man said he would return to their house for twenty-four hours and return the next day. He would leave the little black box with them until then. _

_The man left and the farmer and his wife stared at the box. The farmer said, "I do not wish to kill any one for money; we will not push the button. When that man returns, he will take this box away." The farmer went on with his day as if nothing had happened. But the wife kept staring at the box. The next morning, she was looking at a pile of bills on the kitchen table, noticing how bad their debt had become. She looked at the box and then back at the bills; she did not want to live in debt so she decided to push the button. At that moment, the farmer walked into the house and saw what she had done. He did not speak to his wife, he did not look at her; he just sat and waited for the man to arrive again. When the man arrived, he had a briefcase in his hands, "I know you pushed the button," he said, "some one you have never known, and never will met you has died; here is your million dollars. _

_Feeling very guilty, the wife accepted the money and the man picked up the little black box and turned to leave. She stopped him before he walked out the door, "Where will you go now?" she asked, the man turned to her and said, "I'm taking the box to see some one you have never met. Or will ever meet you in your entire life." _

"So the guy took the box to someone who would be able to kill her if he pressed the button? Weird, not scary, but weird." Yusuke said, crossing his arms. Kurama looked hurt and sniffed indignantly, "Perhaps you could tell us something better?" the fox slightly growled. Yusuke rubbed his hands together excitedly, "You bet your buttons, dude. Get ready to scream." He moved so he was in the dramatic glow of the candles. Lil was absent-mindedly making s'mores in the small fire. "Will you move, Yusuke? You'll get set on fire by my s'mores." She said, rotating the flaming marshmallow on a fire-poker. The Spirit Detective glared at her heatedly. She paid him no mind and extinguished her sweet, mashing it between graham crackers. "Any body want one?" she offered to the other teens. Several hands went up. "Ahem!!" Yusuke glared at them, "You guys!! I'm trying to tell a story here!"

"Sorry, Yusuke, you were boring me." Lil held out a s'more, "S'more?" she offered. Snatching it out of her hand, he growled at her, "Well, Miss A.D.D.; why don't you tell us something we'll be able to pay attention to?!"

"I don't have A.D.D.!! Very well then, I shall try my hand at a shocker." She cleared her throat and settled in front of the candles. Jin, Touya, and Hiei (who had run out of ice-cream) listened intently to the human sport of 'telling ghost stories.'

_You all know the story of Bloody Mary, right? If you go into the bathroom and turn out the lights, and say her name a varying number of times while spinning, or looking into the mirror, she'll appear. No one really knows how Bloody Mary came to reside in the mirror, so I'll tell you._

_ Bloody Mary was just a normal girl, but her name wasn't Mary, no one knows her real name. She lived in the woods in a pretty log cabin with her father and four brothers. Her mother had killed herself because she didn't want to live with her twisted family. The little girl was like a slave to her brothers and father; she had to do all the work by herself, and they would beat her if she couldn't get it all done before sundown; plus, they all molested her on a regular basis. More than anything, she hated to be called; she was only called when they _wanted _her, and the very sound of her own name made her sick when they called her. Finally, they had used her too much and she died. _Yukina, Shizuru, Keiko and Botan shivered, huddling together. Lil stood up and walked around the group, shaking her hair out of her face; she stood in front of the candles so the edges of her black silhouette glowed like fire.

_Even though she was dead, they still used her body. When she started to rot, they threw her in a crystal clear pond in the woods. She was covered in bruises and cuts and scratches; her blood seeped into the water and turned the whole pond red. When nightfall came, her father walked out to the pond because he didn't think he wanted to be done with her yet. He stared into the red water, "Bloody…" he whispered, "Holy Mary, bloody!" he shouted. The little girl's spirit felt her father's presence and her body started to move again. She came out of the water and stood in front of her father. Her eyes were all white; they looked like month old poached eggs; the eyes of a corpse. Her hair had turned into fire; she was still wearing her tattered, blood soaked dress. _Lil raised her arms as if spreading out the hem of a skirt.

_She set her father's head on fire and he ran back to his cabin screaming like a mad man. His son's came out and put the fires on his body out. "What happened?" they asked. "She called her self…Bloody Mary." He said before he dropped dead. Bloody Mary chose that name because she never was a virgin like the saint Mary was. The next night, her brother's were alone in the cabin; one of them was in the bathroom. He was washing his hands in the sink under the mirror, thinking about Bloody Mary, he said her name. She appeared in the mirror, startling him. _Lil went around the candles so her face was visible again, and she had a somber expression, as if she was dead.

_He called his three brothers into the bathroom to look at the mirror. She stared back at them with her rotten eyes, not moving. The first brother said her name again, "Bloody Mary," this time she attacked and set them on fire with her hair. They ran out of the house and out of the forest, still on fire, screaming like banshees. When they finally ran into a town, nearly all of their skin had melted; they were put into a mental hospital after their skin had grown back. _Lil dragged her fingertips down her face, making her skin look melted and scarred in the weak light. The shadows created on her face looked deep and jagged._ Security in that hospital wasn't particularly good; the brothers broke out of their rooms and killed the one who had called her to them in the first place. They ripped out his eyes and slit every vein so all his blood came out. _

_Now, any crystal surface, like a mirror, can call her tormented spirit by saying her name once._ Lil licked her finger and pinched out one of the candles on the candelabrum. _ If you say her name again, she gets angry and attacks you, burning you, then driving you insane. _Lil licked her finger again and put out the second of the three candles. Her ten friends' eyes were visible in the dieing light; they were wide and focused on her.

_The only way to get her to leave is to say her real name. Some say it's Fear, some say its Fire, and still others call her Virgin. Only those who have been attacked by her know her name, because they see her in every clear surface around them; she waits until they say Bloody Mary again and she tells them her name. But when people talk to the victims, the only words they hear are her real name and Bloody Mary, over and over and over again. And all they see is her face, her rotting eyes and her flaming hair. Eventually she comes and finishes her victims off; its like what pirates say about sharks, once she gets a taste of ya', she only wants more and more. _The last candle faltered and went out, a shrieking laughter filled the air, along with wet splattery sounds that sounded like some one's organs being rearranged non-surgically. The girls screamed; Jin shot up in the air, slamming against the ceiling; Touya accidentally made the floor freeze; Kuwabara tripped over something soft and fell flat on his face, sliding across the icy floor and knocking someone off their feet; Kurama tried to make it to the door where the lights switch was, but a body fell on him, kicking and thrashing. He screamed, everyone screamed. The lights flashed on.

James stood in the door way with his wooden sword, "What's going on here!?" he yelled, eyes wide. When Lil had put out the candles, the girls had screamed, making Jin hit the ceiling and then fall on Kurama. When Touya froze the floor, Hiei slipped and fell on his back, only to have Kuwabara mash on his stomach and fall on his face, sliding and decking Yusuke. Lil sat on the small table the candelabrum had been placed on with a tape recorder in her lap, laughing merrily. "Ha! I am the master of ghost stories! Bwa ha ha ha ha- hey, why are you all looking at me like that? Don't you give me that look, Hiei- get the heck away from me!!" the yokai chased her around the room with his katana while the others followed and yelled obscenities not readable here. James yelled and waved his hand to make them all stop. He sighed and ran his hand through his gray hair, "Its late, why don't you all go to bed now. It's past ten, and by my watch, Halloween is officially over."

The teens suddenly yawned and herded to the second floor. They split into groups by gender, and then split again with their roommates. Lil backed into her room cautiously, making sure no one tried to sneak up on her. When she finally closed her door and changed into her pajamas, she was sleepwalking and fell face first onto the bed.


	4. Before Sunrise

Chapter four

Before Sunrise

Across the hall, in the room Yusuke and Kuwabara shared, Yusuke was already in bed and asleep. Kuwabara, being paranoid, sat up straight in his bed. His bed was up against the sidewall and far wall; he was facing the wall with the door on it. To his side was Yusuke's bed, and between them was a dresser with enough drawers for both of them situated under a window. On Kuwabara's wall was the door to the bathroom, and on Yusuke's wall was the door to the walking closet. The room appeared empty, but he felt otherwise. He glanced around the room again before lying down and pulling the covers up to his nose. He started to feel sleepy; something caught his eyes- wait it's just a sock glowing because of the moonlight. Wait; weren't the curtains closed? Kuwabara risked looking over to the dresser and saw the curtains were definitely closed. He saw a little girl sitting on the dresser; her hands were holding the surface on either side of her while she kicked her legs childishly.

He sat bolt upright, eyes wide. The little girl looked at him softly, her gray eyes half closed in a sleepy sort of way. Her glowing image flickered like an old movie reel as she stared at him, but as he kept staring back, her image became stronger and the flickering less apparent. His vocal cords failed him as he tried to call the sleeping boy across from him, scream, cry, anything! "Ura-meshi…" came his weak voice. "Urameshi!!" he whispered a bit louder. "Mmh!" the stubborn teen rolled away from him. "Urameshi!" the carrot top groped around for something, found a shoe, and threw it weakly at Yusuke. "Hey! Kuwabara, what the hell's your problem?" Yusuke was on his stomach, propped up on his elbows, glaring at Kuwabara. "Urameshi, there's a-" he waved frantically toward the dresser. The spot was empty. Yusuke glared, "What?"

"I saw a ghost! Seriously, I swear! She was sitting right there!" Yusuke did not argue back, for he was asleep again. Kuwabara sat up in his bed, pulling the covers around him like a cape. He didn't want to go to sleep now, he was too afraid of the little girl. He stared at the spot on the dresser intently. A cold hand touched his shoulder; he turned to the ghostly little girl sitting next to him. She smiled at him, He jerked away from her, terror on his face. Her smile slowly began to fade. Her eyes turned red, her face changed in a horrible way, and she snarled at him with an animalistic voice.

He went out like a light.

Keiko turned uneasily in her bed; Lil's story had been rather disturbing. Yukina had fallen asleep the minute she got into bed. Keiko was envious of her sleeping habits. The room kept getting colder and colder; Keiko pulled her covers back and stood up to get another blanket from the linen closet. She breathed out white smoke as if the room had dropped below zero. The carpeted floor suddenly became stiff and uncomfortable beneath her bare feet. She shook her head; Yukina is an ice-maiden after all.

She walked into the bathroom and opened the linen closet to get a blanket. After choosing the thickest one she could find, she closed the door and turned to the door. The cold tiles made her toes numb; she breathed out fog again. Wrapping the blanket around herself, she left the bathroom. She gasped, drawing in frozen air, freezing her throat and lungs. Yukina lay on her back in midair, nearly three feet from the mattress. Her blanket had slid from her body and lay crumpled below her.

Keiko dropped the blanket and ran out of the room. Her feet slapped the wooden floors; she nearly tripped over her own feet as she stopped at the door next to her room. She knocked loudly on it; the occupants shuffled about before a tired Shizuru opened the door. "Keiko?" she yawned. Botan popped up behind her, "What are you doing up? Is something wrong?" the ferry girl rubbed her eyes. Latching onto Shizuru's wrist, Keiko nearly ripped her arm off dragging her back to the room. "There!" she said, pointing to Yukina's bed. It was empty. "What exactly am I looking at, Keiko?" Shizuru dislodged her wrist from the girl's grip.

"Yukina! She was floating above her bed!"

"I don't think ice-maidens levitate," Botan commented.

"We have to find her!" Keiko ran down the hall in search of the Koorime. Botan went to wake up Lil. Shizuru followed Keiko down the dark halls. "Yukina…Yukina!" she called in a whisper. They went down the hall and as far as the landing with no sign of her. They doubled back to their rooms and joined the other teens. Botan stood with Lil and Yusuke. Kuwabara seemed to be in a coma-like sleep, so he was not (_could_ not be) woken; Kurama was ruled out because he shared a room with Hiei, who would not take lightly to the situation; Botan did not think it important to seek help from Jin and Touya. Lil passed out flashlights to the drowsy teens, "Yukina is probably sleepwalking, and in this unfamiliar territory, she could hurt herself. Split up with your roommates; Yusuke, you go with Keiko, you know this house almost as well as me. Don't wake up Grampa; he doesn't need to know about this. If you find Yukina, don't wake her; it's dangerous for a sleepwalker to be woken. Guide her back to her room. Alright, lets move." They split into their teams with flashlights and took off.

Botan and Shizuru stayed on the second floor, Yusuke, Lil, and Keiko went to the first floor. The minutes ticked by, Yukina was not found. "Where could she have gone?" Lil grumbled, peeking under the furniture in the den. Yusuke was looking through the bookcases, even though he knew she could not possibly have hidden in them. Among the shelves were several thick volumes on boring subjects that didn't interest him. He touched the dusty head of a bust statue. It was the bust of a Greek goddess, Artemis, which seemed fitting because it was placed among several books on mythology. The head of the statue gave under his hand and clicked. The entire shelf leaned toward him, a secret passage. He pushed the shelf back into place and heard another click; it closed "Yusuke, what are you doing? Shine the light this way." Keiko said.

"She's not in here," Lil decided, "C'mon, we still have to check the dining room, drawing room, kitchen and the living room." She trudged out of the room with Keiko at her heels. Yusuke looked at the bookcase, and then followed the girls.

The whole house was searched and no Yukina was found. Five very disgruntled teens gathered on the third floor near the dojo. "We've checked every nook and cranny, Lil, except the fourth floor." Botan said.

"But Grampa said-"

"Screw what James said!" Yusuke nearly shouted, "We're going to the fourth floor! Now, where's the stairs?" Lil lead the way, walking stiffly as far away from the annoyed Yusuke as possible. The dusty, unused steps near James' room led up to the fourth floor. The door at the top of the stairs was hanging open. The three flashlights among them were concentrated on the floor; which was littered with odds and ends of various decades. The fourth floor was divided in half; one half was a huge room, probably a ballroom of another time; the other half was inaccessible through the piles of junk, mainly a grand piano. Shizuru focused her flashlight on a set of footprints in the dust. "Look there!" she pointed to the trail leading to a small balcony. The French doors leading to it were open, letting the gentle rain leak in. "Oh, no…"

Sweet smelling breezes wafted through her hair, a butterfly landed on her nose. The ice maiden sat up on her bed, but then realized it was a bed of flowers instead. The sky above her was pink and yellow, like a sunset, only all over the sky, and it was bright as noon. Yukina rubbed her eyes, was this real? The butterfly that had landed on her nose fluttered around her head; it was huge, the wingspan was nearly the size of her hand from her middle finger tip to her wrist. Choosing one of the large pink and yellow flowers around her, it landed and fluttered its wings slowly, as butterflies tend to do when stationary. A furry gray bunny lollopped by her leg and nibbled the grass. Yukina stood up in the fantasyland, "Where am I?" she said out loud.

A little girl came into her view on a small hill. She smiled at the Koorime, and beckoned her to come. Yukina would have known better, would have sensed the danger of strangers, would have hesitated, but this dream world made her feel…happy, carefree, and naïve. Yukina made her way towards the little girl, walking around large smooth stones that sparkled in the nonexistent sun. The hill she climbed the small hill where the little girl stood, but as soon as she made it to the top, the little girl ran away. She giggled, her brown hair flowing behind her. Yukina stopped. Was this a game? Should she chase the little girl? The little girl waving to her interrupted her thoughts. She wanted Yukina to follow. So she did.

The little girl led her across a hilly place; always going up and back, and up and back. The pretty flowers and the little animals running around her feet made her giggle, kept her happy; squashed the nagging thought in the back of her mind. The little girl skirted around a rising cliff, the sides were covered with thorn less rose bushes with sturdy thick branches. Yukina watched as the little girl climbed quickly to the top of the cliff and waved back to her. Smiling, she took hold of the strong rose wood and climbed.

The five teens stepped out into the rain, searching for the lost Koorime. She was nowhere to be seen. "Where did she go?" Lil's flashlight swept around the side of the house; it stopped when it landed in the latticework. The criss-cross wood was tangled with the dead vines of ivy and roses. They would bloom again in the spring, but their dried, hardened thorns were just as dangerous in the fall. Lil had stopped and stared at the latticework because a shred of baby blue fabric clung to the thorns. Yukina's nightgown had torn there; she had to have been climbing the latticework to get to the… "She's climbed onto the roof!" Lil cried.

"She sleep walked to the roof?!" Yusuke swept his flashlight upwards to try and see. "Botan, get your oar; we have to find her before she falls or something." Lil turned to the ferry girl. Nodding, Botan flicked her wrist and her flying paddle appeared in her hand. She motioned for Lil to mount behind her, "I won't be able to get to her if she falls; you have to grab her." Lil clambered onto the oar and they flew into the air.

"Yusuke, you, Shizuru and Keiko stay here and keep a look out. If you see Yukina, give a holler." Yusuke nodded and kept his flashlight in the air. The roof to the Victorian house was sloped on the sides and flat on the very top. Several chimneys loomed over the two on the oar. They slowly circled the rooftops; Lil kept her flashlight on the house. "There she is, Botan!" Lil pointed to the highest steeple. Yukina clung to the lightning rod, waving to some unknown audience. "How can we get her down? There's no where to land." Botan said. Lil tightened her grip on her flashlight and the paddle.

"Get me as close to the steeple as possible. I'll jump on and try to keep Yukina from falling; you fly and wake Jin up; he could probably get us down."

"But you could get killed!"

"And if I don't and Yukina does, Hiei will kill me anyway. Now go!" Botan said nothing to this but furrowed her eyebrows. The rain had soaked their clothes to the skin, and it didn't help it was fifty degrees with a wind chill factor to boot. Botan tilted the handle of her oar towards the house. The steeple was a few feet away from them; Botan leaned in closer so Lil could reach the rod. Yukina had her eyes closed, but she somehow sensed Lil's presence. Lil jumped onto the steeple, clinging on for dear life. 'Yukina had better appreciate what I'm doing for her,' Lil thought, shivering.

Yukina had climbed the cliff; the little girl greeted her on the top. She turned to the other side of the cliff and showed Yukina a pool. The water was sparkly and blue, a few lily pads floating freely with pearl-colored blossoms on top. Yukina's friends were all there, Keiko, Botan, Shizuru, Lil, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, Yusuke, Jin, Touya, even Chu, Rinku, and Genkai. They were all swimming, laughing and having fun. The little girl stepped up to the edge of the cliff and jumped into the pool. She resurfaced and waved to Yukina, 'join us,' she seemed to say. Yukina waved to her friends and prepared to jump down and join them. She came to the cliffs edge and looked down. She was about to jump when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked over and saw a horrible monster.

It was taller than her, with black skin that looked like bark. It had horns like a ram and a twisted, ugly face. Its clawed hand dug into her arm. Yukina screamed and tried to pull away. The monster grabbed her other arm and tried to pull her away from the cliffs edge. She struggled violently, trying to get away from the monster, but it held on tight. The scenery around her had suddenly changed. The sky was black and red, the flowers and grass had turned to barren dust and stones. The pool beside her turned into a lava pit, and her friends that were swimming turned into horned creatures like the one in front of her. Her dream was now a nightmare.

Lil fought to hang onto Yukina and the lightning rod. The rain had made the roof, as well as everything else, slippery to her shaking hands. Yukina was battling with Lil to get away; Lil could not, would not release her hold on the ice maiden. One of her hands slipped away, Yukina dug her nails into Lil's cheek, luckily Yukina's nails were just as weak and dull as her own, but it still hurt. "Wake up, Yukina, darn it!!" Lil shouted, trying to recapture Yukina's other hand before she tried to scratch her again. Too late; another shallow but painful channels appeared on Lil's neck. "Alright, that's _enough!_" Lil slapped the ice maiden. Hard. The momentum threw her off balance; she swayed and fell, because she was latched to Yukina, she fell too.


	5. Staying Awake

Chapter 5

Staying Awake

Lil cursed rapidly, watching the ground reach up to splatter her. Thankfully, the Wind master caught them before they were killed. "Its about friggin' time, Jin!" Lil snarled as Jin clasped both the girls around the waist.

"Lass, watcha be doing playin' on the roof in da' rain? It's chilly out, and rainin' no less. You coulda fell to yer death!"

"Don't ya lecture me, ya wind hoppin' elf! Princess Popsicle here led us on a wil' goose chase while sheez sleepwalkin'! Though I'm thankful ya saved m' butt, that duhdn't give ya' no right to sass me fer not puttin' on a flippin' slicker while Yukina committed Hara kiri in 'er sleep!!"

"Well ya' don' gotta bite me head off fer tryin' to care, Miss Too-Texas-Tough!"

"Clingy unicorn wanna be!"

"Um, excuse me-" Yukina butted shyly into the battle, "We're quite a way away from the ground as well as in the rain; would you mind telling me what happened and why I'm in midair?" Jin flew back into the fourth floor balcony to the rest of the teens. "Yukina, do you normally sleep walk?" Botan asked, handing the ice maiden, the Wind master, and the fuming blonde a towel. The ice maiden shook her head, "Never. I had a strange dream about a little girl; she led me to a pool and I was about to jump in because you all were in it, and seemed to be having such fun, when I was grabbed by a monster, then I woke up."

"I guess that monster was me, you scratched the crap out of my face and neck!" Lil pointed to the offensive red streaks.

"Oh, Lil! I'm very sorry!" Yukina raised her hands to heal the scratches.

"S'okay, just don't go sleep walking off the roof again, a'ight?" Lil scratched the side of her face lazily. Yusuke looked very somber, "What did the little girl in your dream look like?" he asked.

Yukina lowered her hands and her eyes; having healed the tiny cuts and began to think. She was very young, six, maybe seven years old. She had brown hair and gray eyes. Why, Yusuke?" Yusuke didn't answer right away; he still looked off into the distance.

"Maybe, I dunno for sure, this house could be haunted."

"Ya think there are spooks in this place, Urameshi?" Jin began to hover, as if a viper was set loose on the floor.

"There's no way of knowing for sure, unless James knows something. He _lives_ here."

"No! Remember he said the fourth floor was off limits! Besides, you remember the last time you tried to wake him? He nearly blew your head off!" Lil shivered, remembering.

"What kind of geezer keeps a berretta under his pillow?"

"A guy who's had many enemies."

"Jeeze, there's no way I'm getting back to sleep."

"Me neither," Botan said.

"Or me." Shizuru said.

"Or me." Keiko said.

"Me neither." Jin eyed his surroundings warily.

"I suppose it would be dangerous if I started to sleep walk again. I'll stay up with you." Yukina agreed with them. And so they all did. They spent the rest of the night in Lil's room, drinking soda and coffee to stay awake.

"Lets not think about scary stuff like ghosts and all that. Lets do something fun." Yusuke proposed.

"Truth or dare! Truth of dare!" Lil jumped up and down on her bed. Jin floated on his back in the air near the high ceiling; Yukina, Keiko and Shizuru sat on a couch, where a second bed would have been, had the room been intended for two guests. Except for Yukina and Jin, they cheered in agreement. "Sure, whatever." Yusuke sat down on the end of the bed. "ME first!" Lil crossed her legs in mid jump and flopped down on the bed.

"What's truth or dare?" Yukina asked. "Sounds like fun!" Jin chimed in.

Lil: "The rules are simple, ask someone truth or dare. If they say truth, they have to tell the truth to any question; if they say dare, they have to do what ever they are dared to do, in the end, the victim then becomes the torturer and selects someone new. When every one has had a turn, the game ends. Keiko, I choose you first. Truth or dare?"

Keiko: "Eh, truth I guess."

Lil: "Do you ever fantasize about Yusuke in his underwear?"

Keiko: "No!"

Lil: "Yusuke fantasizes about you…"

Keiko: "What?!"

Yusuke: "Lil, you said you wouldn't tell!"

Lil: "Well maybe that will teach you not to leave your diary lying around, _or leave chili fries in my car for four days! "_

Keiko: "Okay…my turn. Jin!"

Jin: "Aye? Uh…dare!"

Keiko: "I dare you to kiss Lil."

Jin and Lil: "WHAT?!"

Keiko: "Well, its obvious you two like each other, you fight like a married couple."

Lil: "We like each other, but we don't _like _each other! He's like a brother to me!"

Jin: "Aye, Keiko, Lil's like me own kin! I couldn't kiss 'er!"

Lil: "You wouldn't have me kiss my brother would you? All of you are like a family to me."

Keiko: "What would I be to you?"

Lil: "You, Yukina and Shizuru are like my younger and older sisters; Botan is the eccentric aunt, Yusuke, Hiei and Jin are my older and younger brothers; and Kurama is sort of mix between an uncle and a father."

Yusuke: "What about Kuwabara?"

Lil: "He's the family gerbil. Every one forgets about him until he's almost dead."

Yusuke: "Plus he'd look cute in one of those scamper wheels!" cracking up.

Jin: "Do I still have to kiss Lil?"

Keiko: "Yes,"

Yusuke: "The first step is always denial; pucker up Jin." Elbows Jin in the ribs.

Jin: "No flippin' way!"

Keiko: "You agreed to play the game, you have to play by the rules."

Jin: "No!" flies up to the ceiling and perches on the light fixture.

Yusuke: "You can come down on your own, or I can make you come down, your choice Jin." Makes Spirit gun pose with his hand.

Jin: turns white. "Alright, alright!" swoops down and picks Lil up, pecking her quickly on the lips. " 'Appy Urameshi?" flies back up to the ceiling before Lil can slap him.

Lil: slaps Yusuke. "Butt hole! I'm gonna kill you!"

Jin: "Oy! S'my turn now lass. Sit back, I'll avenge us both." Yusuke raises an eyebrow. "Yukina, truth or dare?"

Yukina: "Well, dare I suppose; I thought you were going to choose Yusuke for sure, why me?"

Jin: "I'll tell ya'" floats upside down and whispers in Yukina's ear.

Yukina: giggles. "You devil! Well, I agreed to play, I have to play by the rules." Keiko, who had moved next to Yusuke, focused her ice powers with Jin focusing his wind powers. Jin made Keiko's nightgown skirt float upwards just enough to brush Yusuke's arm, which Yukina froze into place on his arm. As Yusuke raised his arm, so did Keiko's skirt.

Keiko: "Yusuke!" Slap!

Yusuke: "Yaaah! What'd I do?!"

Yukina: "My turn, I choose…Shizuru. Truth or dare?"

Shizuru: "Truth."

Yukina: "Why does Kazuma refer to me as 'baby'? I do not resemble a child, do I?"

Shizuru: "That's a term of endearment; he's trying to court you."

Yukina: "Oh!" blushes furiously.

Shizuru: "Alright then, Botan, I choose you. Truth or dare."

Botan: "Dare, I suppose."

Shizuru: "Hhhhmmm…"

The teens found themselves in the hallway, making absolutely no noise. Shizuru had entered the room of Kurama and Hiei with a camera and Botan in tote. Amazingly, the youkai were snoring away peacefully. Cringing in fear, Botan approached Kurama's bed and leaned over him. Brushing her ponytail out of her face, she kissed him. Shizuru snapped the picture of them kissing just as the yokai began to wake up. Botan stiffened, but did not move; her eyes were as wide as saucers. "Botan?" he mumbled sleepily against her lips. Shrieking, the ferry girl bolted out of the room with the others in pursuit, leaving Shizuru rolling on the floor. "Um, what just happened?" Shizuru was unable to collect herself enough to answer, but hobble out of the room in giggles.

Botan: "Witch! Traitor!"

Shizuru: "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I got in on film- hee hee hee!"

Botan: "You'd better be thankful you've already had a turn! Hmph! Who's next!" eyes glowing red.

Every one: O.o;

Botan: "Yusuke! Truth or dare!" frazzed out

Yusuke: "Um, truth?"

Botan: turns out lights and shines bright lamp into Yusuke's face. "Isn't it true, Mr. Urameshi, that you _still_ skip school and smoke and drink and beat people up; despite the prohibitions of which by Keiko_ and_ your parole officer?!"

Keiko: "Yusuke…"

Yusuke: shedding tears of terror. "Y-yes ma'am!"

Keiko: "Augh!! You lying jerk!!" SMACK!!

Yusuke: missing a few teeth due to colliding with the wall, while the rest of his face is stuck to the wall. "Ouch."

Keiko: rubbing wrist. "If this keeps up, I'll get carpal tunnel syndrome in the worst way…"

Yusuke: peels his face off the wall. "Okay, my turn." . "The only person who hasn't been chosen is Lil. So, what's it gonna be? Truth…or dare?"

Lil: O.O "Uh, tru-wait no dare-I mean truth! Gah! I don't know!!" TT "Dare…I guess,"

Yusuke: "Excellent…BWA HA HA HA HA!"

Lil: T.T "Crap. Do what you will, Yusuke… BUT NO MORE KISSING!! This is sickening!"

Yusuke: "Aw, damn. Well, I'll think of something else then."

Every one:……………………………………………………………………………………………….. "Well?"

Yusuke: "I cant think that fast! Gimme as second or two …or fifty…Okay, I got it. I dare you to-" grabs Lil's head and whispers in her ear.

Lil: "No!"

Yusuke: "Yes, remember the rules!"

Lil: "Okay…"

Yusuke: "And don't forget the choreography!"

Lil: "Yeah, yeah, shut up ya' jerk, yer worst than m' friggin mother."

Lil cleared a spot on the floor to stand in and sighed sadly. 'Here goes nuthin'.' She began to cavort with a little dance and sing.

"If you go down in the woods today  
You're sure of a big surprise  
If you go down in the woods today  
You'd better go in disguise

For ev'ry Bear that ever there was  
Will gather there for certain, because  
Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for Teddy Bears,  
The little Teddy Bears are having a lovely time today.  
Watch them, catch them unawares  
And see them picnic on their holiday

See them gaily gad about,  
They love to play and shout;  
They never have any care;  
At six o'clock when Mummies and Daddies  
will take them home to bed,  
Because they're tired little Teddy bears.

Ev'ry Teddy bear who's been good  
Is sure of a treat today  
There's a lot of marvelous things to eat,  
And wonderful games to play.

Beneath the trees where nobody sees  
They'll hide and seek as long as they please,  
'Cause that's the way the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for Teddy Bears,  
The little Teddy Bears are having a lovely time today.  
Watch them, catch them unawares  
And see them picnic on their holiday

If you go down in the woods today  
You'd better not go alone.  
It's lovely down in the woods today  
But safer to stay at home.

For ev'ry Bear that ever there was  
Will gather there for certain, because  
Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for Teddy Bears,  
The little Teddy Bears are having a lovely time today.  
Watch them, catch them unawares  
And see them picnic on their holiday."

Everyone: "BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!"

Lil: T.T "I hate you all."

I hope this can tide you all over until the next chapter.


	6. Peaceful Daylight

Chapter 6

Peaceful daylight

Kurama was walking outside through the small garden. He only considered it small because the only visible tended flowers were nearer to the house; the rest melted in with the earth around the house. The plants were starting to die, but he knew they would return in the spring. He sat down on a cold, smooth slab of cement with a lattice back that served as a bench. A tall wide tree was growing behind the bench, shedding its leaves like dandruff in the brisk wind. The flaming red leaves fell around him like Armageddon. 'Its nice here away from the city; I can finally here the trees.' He picked a leaf from his hair and leaned against the latticework. The branches rustled in the wind, sending more leaves down on him.

"Hello, Hiei," he said without looking up. Said yokai made a small 'hn' before jumping to a lower branch on the tree. "Its very… quiet here." He commented bluntly. Kurama nodded, "Yes, I suppose it is, considering we're the only ones here. The others have fallen asleep at the breakfast table."

"Idiots must have stayed up too late."

"Yes, due to their activities in Lil's room, as well as on the roof…" he purposely left his sentence hanging for the fire yokai to want to pry.

"The roof…?"

"Yes, if I heard them correctly as they were in the halls, Yukina had been sleepwalking and ended up on the roof."

"WHAT?!"

"No worries, she was rescued by Jin and Lil; one could hear their bickering a mile away." Hiei had disappeared from the tree.

A shriek was heard from the house, then a loud crash. Kurama could not help but laugh. Hiei would be angry with Lil and Jin, but he would not hurt them. Badly. The wind master streaked by with Lil in his arms; Hiei quickly followed, sword drawn, swearing loudly. The chase ended when Jin flew into a tree, not breaking his neck by some stroke of divine intervention. Lil, who was still conscious, scrambled up said tree, the very one Kurama was sitting under, shouting challenges to Hiei. He followed her up the tree, and after several minutes of the tree thrashing about, they both fell from the branches, tired but at a truce.

Kurama picked the leaves out of his hair, having been showered with them during the fight. The poor tree was half bare in the chilly wind. "James has left the house, yes?" he asked. Lil nodded. "That is good; the sight of Jin flying would have given his heart a skip."

The remainder of the morning was spent making, eating and cleaning up the remains of breakfast. All but Touya, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara had fallen asleep again in the living room. Touya, Kurama, and Hiei went to the third floor to spar a bit, leaving a lonely Kuwabara to watch TV. Lil woke from her much needed rest, having an odd feeling. She went to the kitchen and called her grandfather's cell phone. "Hello?" his voice was heard on the other end of the line.

"Grampa? There's something weird in the house."

"Weird? How so, dear?"

"Yusuke thinks there's a ghost in the house."

"You should know better than to believe in such things." He chided her like a child.

"You know how Gramma used to see… _things_, she said evil things grow stronger if you pay attention to them."

"So don't pay attention to it, it's as simple as that. Goodbye now, I have to get going."

"Bye," she hung up. She realized she was shivering. Looking at the thermostat, the mercury dropped quickly, like the weight in her stomach. Lil wrapped her arms around herself, watching her breath appear before her. Her toes went numb, and her feet stuck to the tile floor. The large windows in the kitchen went very dim and the lights flickered off. Lil closed her eyes, breathing slow, deep breaths, trying to block it all out. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end; she could sense the Presence near her. Staying calm with a blank mind was becoming very difficult.

"Hey, Lil." Touya walked into the kitchen, followed by Kurama, Hiei was elsewhere. The lights came back on, and the temperature of the room shot back up, hitting her with a blast of heat. Lil still clenched her eyes shut, breathing slowly. "Lil? Are you alright?" Kurama touched her shoulder, where her hand was. He hissed through his teeth and pulled his hand away. "Your hands are freezing, and you're shaking! Is something wrong?"

Trembling, Lil opened her eyes and looked straight at him, "Don't say anything. Follow me." in a cloud of blonde, she tore out the back door and into the woods, leaving her grandfather's property. Kurama and Touya followed, stopping with her next to a stream about a quarter mile away from the house. Lil was leaning against a tree trying to catch her breath when the two yokai caught up with her. "Lil, what's going on?" Touya asked, giving her a strange look, furrowing his eyebrows and narrowing his eyes, as if she had a terrible secret.

"My grandfather's house is haunted." She said, staring at the stream, watching the water sparkle as it ran over the stones and pebbles.

"Haunted? Are you sure?" Kurama stated more than asked, in his logical voice.

"The light Yusuke saw, Yukina sleepwalking, the kitchen, it has to be a ghost." She was talking to herself, pacing and wringing her hands.

"Why exactly did you have us come out here?" the fox gestured to the trees round him.

"We can't talk about it in the house."

"Why not?"

"Hauntings derive their strength from peoples' attention. We'd just make it worse if we stayed." Touya looked back and forth the between them, staring at each other. Kurama looked at Lil like she was drunk and trying to convince him pigs could fly; Lil looked at him like he was an enemy. "If the house is haunted, why are signs showing now, and not in all the years James has lived there?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure about this."

"What do you suggest be done, if you can't talk about it indoors?" Touya said, stepping between them. Kurama put his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground. "Find the source of the Presence and try to fix it." Kurama found two pairs of eyes staring at him in disbelief. "Hey, that's what they do in the movies! We might as well try."

Lil pressed her fists together, "Lets do it."

The afternoon wore on and the evening came; the sun had set early and the inhabitants of the house went on merrily with their lives. Lil, and Kurama searched the house carefully and discreetly for any clue as to who lived in the house before James, or any events that happened around the surrounding property. They came up empty handed at 5 p.m. they flopped onto the couch in the living room. "Nothing." She sighed.

"Nada," he agreed.

"Zilch,"

"Zero."

The phone rang on the table beside her. She picked it up, "Hello? …Yes, this is she…WHAT?!" she jumped out of her seat. "…Oh…alright. Thank you for calling…bye…." She hung the phone up. "What's wrong?" Kurama stood up; Touya entered the living room hearing her scream. "Its Grampa, he was working…" she wrapped her arms around herself, "out of now where he had a heart attack. His coworkers don't know what caused it."

"Where is he now?" Kurama felt a weight settle in his stomach.

"He's in a coma at the hospital." Her voice cracked, tears coming to her eyes. She sat on the couch with her face in her hands. She could not yet cry, but she could not control herself either. Kurama and Touya sat down on either side of her, "Don't worry, Lil, he'll be fine. He's a strong man."

"I don't understand," she whimpered, "he doesn't smoke or drink and he's healthy as a man half his age. What could have-" her head snapped up. "It was-" Kurama covered her mouth, "Remember what your grandmother said about you-know-what." Lil leaned back on he couch and closed her eyes, ignoring the tears running down her face. Touya felt very bad for Lil, as did Kurama. The thought of losing something of great value was in their heads. The TV clicked on, showing static. "Kurama, this is no time to watch TV!" Touya said, disapprovingly.

The red head looked shocked, "That wasn't me!" Lil looked down at her seat, "Maybe someone sat on the remote." They checked all the way under the couch cushions and found nothing. "Very funny, guys! Come on out!" she said loudly. Kurama stared at Lil, "I don't sense any one else on this floor but us," she blanched, turning back to the TV. The static flickered across the screen. The lamps on either side of the couch flickered, and the light bulbs exploded. Lil jumped and screamed. The VCR mounted on the TV ejected a tape at an alarming speed. Touya pushed Lil to the floor, shielding her from any other attacks by the TV. Kurama eyed the tape wedged three inches into the drywall. "I don't think the You-know-what likes you, Lil."

"It isn't safe in this house anymore." Touya concluded. Lil sat up from being on her stomach. "What should we do? Should we warn the others?"

"No, we can't talk about it unless we're all off the property." Hiei appeared from a black flash. His Jagan was exposed and wide open. "Jiji is unwell; this house is-" he meant to say 'haunted' next but Lil stopped him.

"Shh! Shh! Sh!" Lil waved her arms. "Don't say it. You'll make it angry!"

"Yes, we just found out that James is in the hospital." Kurama helped Touya and Lil off the floor. "I believe that the next person to suffer will be Lil."

"What is your reasoning?" Hiei asked.

"Take a look at the tape stuck in the wall." Hiei's eyes flitted over to the tape and back. "I checked, and every other light bulb in this house has exploded. When night falls, there will be no light." He said.

"Lil," Kurama turned to her, "Go to James. He needs you with him, and it's not safe here."

"But, what about every one else? How can it be safe for them?"

"I don't know, but I do know you are in danger. Touya, Hiei and I can manage the house." Lil gave him the key to the house and put on her jacket. She took James's motorcycle in case the other's had need for the van. "Good bye," she waved, "and good luck," she whispered to Heaven.

Whew! finally off hiatus! Hows the story going? Like it? Does the plot need more? give me a call, it gonna get freaky in the next few chapters.


	7. Horror by Moonlight

Chapter 7

Horror by Moonlight

Lil sat by the hospital bed, watching her grandfather sleep a deadly sleep. The metal frame surrounding the sides of the bed were tangled with various tubes linking to the man's veins. He looked calm and peaceful; even his moustache was still curled. Lil had been by his side since 6 pm; the clock now read 12 pm. Her head bobbed sleepily, struggling to stay awake. _Oh, Grampa. What's happening? Where did this evil come from? Why did it do this to you? _She mused sadly. The lights in the room had been dimmed. She stood up and walked down the hall to the snack machine. She returned with an armful of snack foods that would do to sustain her: three Root beers, popcorn, Cheese puffs, a giant bag of M&M's, and a giant bag of Reese's pieces.

She thought about how James would scold her or eating so much junk food. Laughing, she laid out her unhealthy buffet and dared him to wake up so he could scold her. Playing Tetris on her cell phone occupied her brain for a while. "Hey," a soft voice said. It was Botan. Lil turned and greeted her. Botan sat down in a chair beside Lil returned to her Tetris game. "Kurama told us what happened."

"How is every one?"

"They're all fine; a little depressed for you, but they're safe and sound. I flew up here to check on you. I wanted to see you for myself, not just talk on the phone."

"I'm fine." She said glumly. The silence lasted for a quarter of an hour. Botan said in a very quiet voice, as if someone else was listening in, "There is definitely a specter in your grandfather's house. I don't know where it came from or what it wants, but it is stationary to only the house."

"The others should leave the house and find a hotel to stay in."

"No," Botan said, "We went off the property and talked it over. We're all staying to help you and James."

"That's nice of you all, but you are in danger."

"That doesn't matter to us. We've been in worse scrapes then this and come out alive." Botan's eyes and jaw were set firmly. Lil smiled tiredly. "Get some rest," Botan draped a blanket from a nearby closet over her shoulders and made her lie down on a row of lined up chairs. "I'll keep watch for a while."

"Thanks, for everything."

Hiei stealthily flitted through the darkened halls, on patrol. The girls, and Jin stayed in Shizuru and Botan's room with at least a dozen old-fashioned candle-lamps with the bulb shaped glasses over them to keep the wind from snuffing them out. They had no more light bulbs after the incident that afternoon. Yusuke, Kurama, Touya and Hiei were on patrol around the house and grounds for any sign of supernatural activity. Hiei was assigned to the top floor and roof. The fourth floor was not much to patrol at all, but it was the spookiest part of the house in the dark.

The second half of the fourth floor was blocked; or was, until Hiei shoved the piano out of the way. The exposed door behind it was unlocked. He opened the door and carefully entered the room. It was empty, but for a small window near the slanted ceiling. This very window was on the small tower where Yukina and Lil clung for dear life in the rain. He looked out of the window; it gave a small view of the woods behind the house. He rubbed his hands on his arms to keep himself warm; wait… Hiei never got cold. The door snapped shut. He spun around, drawing his sword. His Jagan glowed a deep purple; the Presence was near. He blew out foggy breaths in the cold, cold room. "Back. Off." He snarled to the darkness around him the freeze lifted and his breaths became invisible again. The doorbell rang, nearly making him jump out of his skin.

Lil and Botan cautiously entered the front door from leaving the hospital. Kurama and Touya escorted the girls to the room where the others were. "How is he?" Jin asked; the rest of the girls were sleeping. Lil wiped her nose drearily, "He's stable, but he's still in a coma."

"We're taking turns keeping watch. We rotate by the hour; Shizuru has the next watch." Lil nodded and made herself a pallet on the floor to sleep on. She wiped her eyes repeatedly; Jin sat beside her and ran his hand through her hair. "Don't be sad lass, everything will be okay."

"How can you guarantee that, Jin?" she said, sadly.

"How can you not believe he will be? You're so optimistic, but when things turn bad you forsake all hope! Shame on you!" he said, wagging a finger. "Practice what you preach, lass. I have faith; your granda' is a' sturdy as they come, and there ain't nothing we can't do when we want to do it. We can beat this." Lil smiled, "I'm sorry Jin." and went to sleep. Jin's watch ended and Shizuru's began. The moonlight waned, and one by one, they served their watch. At about 3 AM, Lil was sitting up to watch, when she had to use the restroom. She reached for the doorknob and turned it. The door stuck; the lock had accidentally been left turned and the door locked from the inside out. "Gotta go, gotta go!" she thought impatiently. A light bulb appeared over her head. Her room was just next-door; she could go there, couldn't she? She would only be gone for a moment. Slipping quietly out the door, she darted into her room and relieved the building pressure accordingly.

She stepped out after washing her hands, cautiously turning her head this way and that. Lil saw her balcony door open, and swinging with the wind that she could not feel. She walked forward to close it and heard faint laughter. It came from outside, so she followed it onto the balcony. She looked around but saw no one. Her instincts were going crazy, sirens and lights went off in her head, but she stayed still. The laughter came again; she looked up to the tower with the very small window she had dangled from just the night before. She could make out a pale face just behind the glass; it was the little girl. Lil felt a pair of hands on her shoulders and she fell over the edge of the rail. She screamed; and was engulfed by heat.

By the time she stopped trembling, she realized it was Hiei's fiery body heat that warmed her. He leapt down from the roof and caught her. "Baka onna, what are you doing here?" he scowled.

"The little girl, " she whispered. Hiei's glare melted away, he said, "It has become hostile." He jumped back up onto the balcony and set Lil down. "Go back to the watch, the sun will rise in a couple of hours." He said. Lil nodded and scurried back to Shizuru and Botan's room.

The sun rose behind a dark, dangerous cloud. Lil returned to the hospital with Yukina and Keiko. The others walked a little more freely in the house, straying to different areas in twos and threes, and replaced some light bulbs. No sign of Her had been noted since Lil was on the balcony. Hiei had returned to the room in the attic. The Presence that threatened him was the strongest in this room. Perhaps the little girl had lived in this house at one time; perhaps this was her bedroom. The yokai sensed him before he entered the room, but Kurama's voice still startled him. "Any clues?"

"None here that I can see."

"Maybe its something we can't see here."

"Like what? The walls feel splintery, the air smells dusty, and don't even try to ask me to lick something in here."

"No, I meant something not here." The red head approached the small window, gazing out. "I have a feeling there is something crucial about this room we're missing, even though it's bare."

"You're the thief; you're supposed to be good at finding what's hidden." Hiei said, leaving the room. Kurama stayed behind, for a moment. 'We can no longer ignore this spirit; that only angers it… Where did you come from? What do you want?' he thought. James was the only one who knew anything about the house, and he was in a coma. His fist slammed on the wall, "Damn it! What am I missing?!" Kurama rarely got angry or lost control. He looked at his reflection in the glass of the window. His face was lined with his frown, his eyes were wider than usual, and the green had shrunk, making him look deranged. Resting his head on his hand, he sighed and exited the room. "Maybe I'll have a cup of coffee; with lots of cream and sugar. Yeah? Yeah." He seemed to be talking to himself.

Several minutes later, Touya, Jin, and Hiei were in the kitchen, twitching uncontrollably, and holding large mugs of steaming brew. "This stuff is great, I can't believe I never bothered to try this stuff! Hee hee hee!!" Kurama chattered, taking another swig of the unfiltered caffeine. Jin was sitting on the table with a huge grin, holding his cup, "Javajavajavajavajavajavajavajavajavajava-" Touya was watching the others curiously, eyeing his mug suspiciously. Hiei took up post in the middle of the kitchen floor, hopping up and down at an alarming speed, like a Russian dancer. "This stuff is great!! Heh, coffee, coffee, coffee! Where do they get this stuff?" he said, spilling his coffee on the floor due to his bouncing, but not noticing.

"Colombia." Kurama said, draining his mug.

"Colombia? Oh it's the best, we should go there!!"

Jin leapt off the table and drifted toward the ceiling, "We can go there now! Huh, lets go to Colombia and get more coffee!!" Touya discreetly dumped his coffee down the sink, not wishing to be tainted by the draft of maniacs. Jin saw this and jabbed a finger at him. "Sacrilege!! He has slandered the drink of Colombia by destroyin' it and refusin' the bitter goodness!!" Kurama and Hiei turned on Touya with narrowed eyes. The ice master's eyes became very wide; if he had pupils, they would have shrunk to dots by now. The three coffee addicts tackled him to the ground and force-fed him raw coffee grounds. He choked trying to scream for help and coughed the grounds up in a spitty cloud like a whale spouting. Jin dumped the remainder of the coffee pot, which had cooled to a safe temperature, into Touya's mouth. Poor Touya had to swallow in order to clear the grounds out of his throat.

Shivering convulsively, he slammed his head on the floor. The three stared at him, taking him for dead. "Did we kill'em?" Jin said fearfully. Touya sat up quickly, twitching uncontrollably. "Coffee is good!' he said in a high pitched voice. "He's a Brother!" Jin cried.

"Come friend! Let us fill our faces with caffeine and sugar products!" Kurama yanked Touya up and steered him toward the fridge.

The sun had set too soon, leaving the house in the shadow of the mountains and forest. Shiziuru walked into the kitchen, welcomed by the empty wrappers of coffee, candy, snacks, ice cream, and cake. The three boys who caused the mess were stationed at the table with bags of ice on their heads. "Too…much….sugar." Jin groaned.

"What happened?" Shizuru asked, though she had already guessed the answer. "Shh!" Kurama rubbed his temples, "Not so loud!"

"Well, maybe you will learn to eat junk food in moderation now." She said and left the room. Kurama looked out the window, into the sinking sun. "The sun is setting, shouldn't Lil and the girls have returned by now?" Hiei discreetly perked up at the mention of his sister. Touya glanced at the kitchen clock, "Hours ago, actually." He replied. A low rumble echoed down from the sky. Rain pattered on the window. Lightening flashed another clap of thunder shook the house.

Jin stared out the window, toward the entrance to the driveway. "Its not safe weather to be out in; it could flood." Thunder roared fiercely again. Even Hiei jumped in his seat at the deafening crack. Yusuke and Kuwabara passed through the kitchen with Shizuru behind them. "The weather says there's a dangerous storm coming this way." Shizuru said. "We have to get underground if this thunder storm turns into a twister." They heard another clap of thunder and a flash of lightening so bright it lit up the kitchen and blinded them. The lights went out. Yusuke dug a flashlight out of his pocket; ever since the night before, he was never without a source of light. "Follow me," he said and led them into the basement on an old wooden staircase. Kurama drew a lamp weed seed from his hair and stuck it in a knot in the wood. The yellow light filled the room and they inspected their surroundings. Many bundles of cured firewood were in the basement, as well as boxes of decorations for various holidays.

"What do we do now?" Kuwabara asked, "Keiko, Lil, and Yukina won't be able to get in if we're down here."

"Lets call her," Shizuru said and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She dialed the number and listened for the dial tone. "The line is busy," she concluded after hearing the busy signal instead of the dial tone, "the storm has the airways down."

"Tell me about it," Yusuke said, flipping through the channels of a pocket radio, "the radios were clear five minutes ago, and now I can't even get the Spanish channel."

Lil, Yukina, and Botan had left the hospital shortly after the sun went down. As they approached the estate, a sheet of rain poured down on them. Yukina, dressed as a normal human, had ridden on the back of James' motorcycle with Lil, while Botan flew on her oar above them. They stopped at the gate; Lil pressed the intercom button, but it made no response. "The power must be out." She said to the others. The wind whipped at them, "How can we get inside?" Yukina shouted over the wind. "We'll have to climb over." Lil, said, taking off her helmet; Yukina did the same.

"No, I can fly us over." Botan said, lowering herself nearer to the ground. Yukina and Lil climbed on her oar and they rose over the gate and flew toward the house. The wind forced them back again and again, but Botan was a good pilot, after all. Lightening flashed dangerously and the thunder was deafening. They finally made it to the front door, soaked to the marrow. Lil tried to knob, but it was locked. "Crap, they must be in the cellar, this storm is really bad. Lets check around the back; none of the windows would be open or unlocked anyway." She quickly led them around the house to the back door; it was also locked. She growled and slammed her fists on the door, cursing loudly.

Jin jumped up from the floor and flew to the door of the basement. "Somethin's a-whackin' on the back door," he said. Hiei rolled his eyes. "Things have been hitting the house since the storm started; branches, small stones, birds-" the sound of shattering glass was unmistakable. The teens jumped up and charged up the stairs and pressed their ears to the door. "Is it a burglar?" Kuwabara said.

"Maybe a branch flew through a window." Kurama hypothesized.

"May be its you-know-what." Touya whispered to him. Shizuru pulled everybody away from the door. "One or two of us has to go and check out what that noise was." No one volunteered. "Little brother, I nominate you; all in favor?" six 'aye's were heard.

"What? Why me?"

"Because you are the least useful, so if something happens to you, you are expendable." Hiei said.

"That's not cool, man!"

"Alright, you big chicken," Yusuke stepped forward on the stairs, "I'll go with you." Shizuru handed them flashlights and opened the cellar door. "I'm not a chicken, Urameshi!"

"Shh!" they crept through the house, slowly sweeping each room with the white flashlight beams. The pitch-blackness seemed to swallow them whole, stifling and thick. The house was too quiet now; the boys made it to the living room, shining their lights on the shattered bay window. The glass shards were pilled at the windowsill, with no sign of a branch or anything that could have broken it. "Lets get out of here, Urameshi!" Kuwabara whispered.

"We can't we have to find what ever broke the window." A pair of cold hands grabbed their shoulders, digging sharp nails into their skin. They screamed.

Ounuyoshe- sorry! School is kicking my butt! this story shouldn't take more than twelve or thirteen chapters. The sequal to silver and gold is in the makings,, and i'm being very delicate about it. please, i ask your patience with me!


	8. Trapped

Chapter 8 Trapped

They screamed and whirled around, blinding their attacker with the bright flashlight beams. The figure raised its hand to shield its face. "Yusuke, you prick, get that out of my face!" a familiar voice growled.

"Lil?"

"No, it's Hiei in a wig and stilts." She said, taking the flash light away from him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We heard a window break and we came to check it out. Every one is in the cellar because of the storm. If it could break a window-" he stopped short as he gestured to the glass. The window was no longer broken; the shards of glass on the floor had reformed into the pane, as if it was never broken. The five teens looked at each other, then back at the window; Lil touched the glass, it was real. She took her helmet, which she used to break the glass the first time and slammed it on the window. It did not shatter. Dropping her helmet, she yanked up on the pane; it would not budge. Running to the front door, she struggled with the doorknob, it was unlocked, but would not open. "We're trapped in the house," she said shakily. "Lets get back to the cellar. "Yusuke said quickly, leading the way back.

They entered the dark room and reported their findings, while Lil dug around in the many boxes for some candles shaped like Christmas trees. She held five of the ridiculous-looking candles, "Hiei, may I borrow your fire for a moment, please?" she asked said yokai politely. He pointed his index finger out from under his crossed arms, and the wicks flickered in flame, "Thank you."

"So what's the plan?" Kuwabara said aloud. Kurama was listening for a weather report on the radio. "I suppose we had better stay down here where it is safe; we can't get out of here anyway." The fox said.

"She wants something, but we don't know what yet, and so far all the attacks have been targeted toward isolated people, so the safest place is in a group." said Lil, who sat on the stair, staring at nothing.

"What are we supposed to do all night?" Yusuke groaned. Touya was playing tic-tack-toe with Jin, using solid ice pieces. Keiko and Yukina dug around for some blankets, and found an old cabinet full of quilts. Mothballs fell out of the folds, but other wise they were well cared for. Setting up a watch again, they all attempted to get a little sleep, though it had eluded them. The first pair of watchers held the radio and set the candle in a corner where they sat. Jin and Lil sat wrapped in the faded comforters, thinking about the events of the past few days.

"I wonder what'll happen next." He said softly, so as not to disturb the others.

"Me too; we should always stay in groups; being isolated makes us easy targets, that much I know."

"What if some one has to use the toilet?"

"…I don't want to answer that."

"Well, yer gonna have to, and fast." He said, fidgeting. "Oh, Jin." Lil sighed. She and Jin quickly walked to the bathroom nearest to the cellar, which wasn't very far. When Jin reappeared, Lil was standing next to the door, holding the flash light as a weapon. "Hear anything, lass?"

"No, and I like it that way."

"I'm with you, let's leg it back to the cellar." He began walking back through the house with Lil lighting the way. The light dimmed and disappeared. "Lil, I could use a bit of light here," he said, turning around, "Lil?" darkness there, and nothing more. (Edgar Allen Poe rocks.) "Mother holy Mary-!" he cursed rapidly in Gaelic, blowing the door open and literally dragging Hiei and Kurama out of bed. "Release the cloak, pansy-boy." Hiei said in a quiet but malevolent way. Jin dropped them both in the hall where Jin had lost her.

"She's gone, she just disappeared behind my back, even the flashligh'." Jin said, breathing raggedly. "Ya gotta use yer magic peeper ta find 'er."

Hiei stripped away the ward to his Jagan and let it peer around; it's range piercing metal, wood, stone and flesh. "The little girl's energy has saturated these walls, I can't tell where it's coming from."

"Kurama, you were a fox once, can ya use yer nose ta find 'er?" Jin was hovering, his knees draw up and his fingers tangled together nervously. Kurama nodded and took a deep sniff of the air. "Follow me,"

Lil was walking behind Jin, shining the flashlight on the floor. The white beam of light began to flicker and died in her hand. She smacked the head of the tool against her palm, "Crummy batteries, I knew I should have bought the kind with the pink bunny and the drum (they keep going and going-)… Jin, wait up!" she called, but as she looked up, she no longer saw the him ahead of her, or the hall for that matter. She was in a small room with a single round window, through which came a little pale sunlight of winter. There was a small bed in one corner, a chest of toys at the foot of the bed, and a child-sized table in the opposite corner with a small, old fashioned TV on top. All over the walls were the many, many drawings of a child: flowers, rainbows, animals that were too crude to be distinguished. They even decorated the narrow white door on the wall adjacent to the window.

Sitting on a round rug in the middle of the floor was the little girl, playing with a worn doll. Lil dropped the flashlight in shock; it clunked loudly in the quiet room. Lil spluttered helplessly, "Y-you… you're the one who- the gho-" the words caught in her throat as if a cork was stuffed into her voice box. The little girl looked up, as if just noticing her presence and smiled. Her smile was so sweet, so gentle; she looked just perfect. She held out her doll, offering it to Lil to play with. Lil's knees were shaking; she fell to the ground. The little girl's smile never wavered. Lil slowly crawled forward and slowly reached out to take the doll from her. Her hands brushed the little girl's, and they were not cold and lifeless, but warm and soft. Lil held the cloth doll to her chest, watching the girl.

Turning her gray eyes to the toy chest, she concentrated and raised her hand as if to catch something. The lid of the chest opened and a doll, similar in make to the one Lil held, rose out of the hoard of simple toys. The doll flew to the girl's hand and she began to fuss with its hair and dress buttons, as if what she just did was normal. Lil was about to faint, or vomit, or pee her pants, but she couldn't. The little girl levitated several more objects from her toy chest; tinker toys, the small wooden sticks that connect into wooden disks to create things. She constructed these into a strange frame, like a doorway with a table in front of it and a flat piece that slide up and down in the doorframe. The door to the room flew open, and in walked a woman with an old fashioned dress from the 1960's. Her hair and eyes were the same colors as the girl's. "Time for bed, Chesa." (Cheh-zah) She said almost cruelly.

"But kaasan, the sun is still up!" the little girl said, she received a sharp slap from the woman.

"What have I told you about calling me that?!" her voice was a dangerous whisper. The little girl's eyes were wide, holding her hand to her cheek. "You are not mine, devil-child, do you understand me?!"

"But you _are_ my real mother." She said, tears welling up in her eyes. The woman's hand raised again, "I mean, yes, ma'am!" the woman turned and faced the toy chest, its lid still floated in mid air. The girl let it fall quickly with bang, but not fast enough. The woman's shoes dug into her stomach, "You are never permitted to use your powers! Never! You dishonor this family with your witch-craft!" The little girl sobbed in a fetal position, "How can I dishonor a family if you won't let me be a part of it? Tou-san loves me; I just want to make you and tou-san happy-" The woman gave the girl another sharp kick.

"Shut up and get into bed." She slammed the door as she left. Lil, who was invisible to the cruel mother, could not move; how could a mother hate her own child? The little girl sat up from her fetal position, her tears ceasing. She picked up her doll and placed it on the table she had made with the tinker toys. "Be still, mommy; it's useless to struggle." She said to the doll, "Soon, only papa and I will together without you around to keep me away from him." She began to sing a song that made Lil want to run away in terror.

(To the itsy bitsy spider theme)

The rusty guillotine gets

Bloodier every day

Down comes the blade and

Their heads will fall away

Out flows their blood and

Dries upon the blade

And the rusty guillotine gets

Bloodier every day

The wooden guillotine came down, and a metal sound like a knife was heard. The wooden, harmless guillotine cleanly severed the head of the doll, and blood gushed from the inanimate doll body, according to the song. Lil gasped and dropped the doll in her arms. The little girl's eyes turned to her, slowly swiveling her head. Lil locked gazes with her and stumbled backwards against the door. "Don't try and take papa away from me, or you'll end up like mommy will be." She said; her voice sounded like it was in a metal tunnel.

Lil whimpered as the door fell open. She tumbled out into a mass of greedy arms, tugging at her all at once. She screamed. "Lil!" an Irish lilt cried. She burst into tears, clinging to the Wind master like a lifeline. "Lil! What happened?" he said, pulling her away so he could see her.

"She won't stop!" she sobbed.

"Who? Who won't stop what" Kurama asked.

"Her… _She_ won't stop until we're all dead!"


	9. Beware

Chapter 9 Beware

The night wore on and day came, but no light shown through the clouds or lit the house. The windows and door were impenetrable, and all electrical systems were not operational. The house creaked and groaned; whether it was the wind or the little girl, none could tell. "I can't take it anymore." Lil said, pacing, "I have to find out what the hell is causing her to do this. Why did she never attack Grampa? He's been living here for decades."

"Maybe its because you're a girl." Botan sat on a box stuffed with odd and ends. "Think about it, you said she tried to please her parents, but only her father showed her any love. Maybe she sees James as her father, and doesn't want you around."

"So if she wants me gone, why did she seal the house up?"

"Revenge," Hiei said, leaning against a wall, "Plain and simple. Jiji lived here for decades, alone, and she doesn't want any competition at all. She's going to get rid if it at the source."

"Lil, I have a hunch." Kurama stood up from his seat on the stairs, "How did your grandmother die?" Lil didn't understand, "She died here, of a heart attack in her sleep. She was never very healthy; she died before I was even born."

"What about your mother?"

"She died of the same thing, but she was healthy as a horse; where are you getting at?"

"The little girl could be responsible for their deaths. And you are next if we don't stop her." Lil paled. Botan shook her head, "Ghosts can't kill people, they're insubstantial; they can't touch people in the living world."

The house groaned loudly, but the sound was so commonplace, it was ignored. Keiko shivered; Yusuke put his arm around her, and Kuwabara did likewise with Yukina. Hiei glared daggers at the carrot top, but said nothing and allowed the fool to comfort his sister. Jin drifted around the ceiling with a thoughtful look on his face. "Lass, remember when princess Popsicle here was a'sleepwalkin'?" he said, "The little wraith was givin' her a dream."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, people die o' fright sometimes, right? I mean where else would the phrase come from?"

"Jin, you aren't making any sense." Lil said, frowning. "Since when does Jin ever make sense?" Yusuke said.

"M' point is, yer gran and yer mum might'a died o' fright in their dreams caused by the wee lass."

"…. Have you been eating coffee grounds again?"

Kurama waved his hand, "No, he may have something there."

Yusuke jerked in surprise, "Jin? Saying something intelligible!"

Jin inspected the bottoms of his feet, in response to Kurama, "Have somethin' where?"

"So much for being intelligible."

"Jin, its an expression." Kurama said.

"Um, hello? We're talking about _me_, _my_ problems." Lil said irritably. "What am I going to do!"

"Well that's easy, just don't fall asleep or be alone at any time ever again." Yusuke said.

"Oh yeah, that will solve my problems, Yusuke; turning into an insomniac." Yukina stood up and tapped Botan on her shoulder, "If the ghost is not at rest, perhaps she can be made to be at peace; that's partially your job, is it not, Botan?" the room went silent. Botan made a cat face, hugging the small Koorime, "YUKINA, YOU"RE A GENIUS! Now why didn't we think of that earlier?"

"Because the authoress has but one brain cell." Lil said, walking up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Shizuru said, "isn't your life at stake or something?"

"Whose isn't? Kurama, Hiei, I'll need your help. Jin, you and Touya try to break out of the house; Yusuke and Kuwabara, guard the others." The determined human girl marched up the stairs and through the house, followed by the fox and Jaganshi. The door of the attic slammed open as she stomped into the small room of the tower. "There's something else in here; when I was here the last time, she showed me her memory of this room. There's something different about it now, but I can't put my finger on it."

Hiei shrugged, "I've been in here too; there's nothing."

"No, there's something here, I know it. Curse my short attention span!" she punched the wall angrily. The hollow thud sounded through the room. Kurama's eyes snapped to the spot where her fist was, "Do that again," he said. She thumped the wall again. "Of course, her closet! She had a closet, it must have been sealed up!" she said excitedly, running her hands over the wall. She ran out of the room and dove headfirst into one of the piles of junk in the attic. When Lil climbed back out, she had a sledge hammer in her hand. Kurama raised an eyebrow.

"If the fourth floor is forbidden, how did you know that would be here?"

"…. Lucky guess? Er, I've been up here a few times, I just never told Grampa about it" The house groaned again. Lil skittered past the fox and started to tear the wall down where she heard the hollow sound. "Grampa will have a stroke if he finds out I'm busting holes in the wall." She muttered. Hiei and Kurama pulled away the pieces of drywall as they were pulverized; Lil hit a wooden surface behind a wooden frame. Dropping the hammer, she helped pull away the last of the old drywall. "It's a door." She said, running her hand over the dust-incrusted surface. The antique egg-shaped doorknob glinted faintly. She pulled on it, but to no avail. Hiei touched her arm; she stepped aside. In a lightning fast slash, he cut open the lock.

Lil pulled the door open, her eyes growing wider at what she found. The walk-in closet was filled with old, decrepit furniture packed together, and piles of papers stuffed into boxes. She pulled one of the boxes out of the closet and sifted through the papers, "All her drawings…" she said. The box was filled with the girl's drawings. The vibrant pictures of butterflies, flowers, rainbows, and animals had not faded in the dark for so many years. Kurama knelt to look at the back of the picture Lil was holding. He snatched it away from her and turned it over. On the other side of the picture of some indistinguishable four-legged animal was a vivid depiction of a woman in a dress being beheaded. "Chesa must have hated her mother as much as her mother hated her." He said, letting the paper fall to the ground.

Lil dug through the box again; on the back of each innocent picture was a gory scene of her mother's murder, all but one. "Look at this last one, it's the only one with a date on it: November fourth."

"That's tomorrow," Kurama said, taking the picture from her, examining it. "It's also the only picture without a scene of her mother's death on it." Hiei leaned over Kurama's shoulder, "Its her own death." he surmised. The crayon drawing of a child with brown hair was clear enough; but standing over the fallen figure was a woman in a dress, probably her mother. There was no blood in the picture, only the little girl with her eyes closed, lying in a bathtub with her nightgown on and a toaster that was plugged in. "Here the person in the bathtub has been electrocuted by this other person." Kurama ran his finger over the crayon drawing. "Her mother murdered _her_."

Lil sat back from being on her knees and rested Indian style on the floor. "Why would she depict her own death?" Hiei had reentered the closet and sifted through the other boxes. He pulled out a piece of official-looking paper. "Take a look at this," he said, showing the others. The paper was her death certificate, dated at November fourth.

"She must have foreseen her own death; she was a psychic after all." Lil said, taking the certificate.

"We have to find a way out this house." Kurama said, standing up.

"No, we can't just run; what if someone else comes to live here? They will be in great danger."

Hiei snapped, "So what do you want us to do? She was a crazy little girl with a bitch mother! What are we going to do to fix that? Send her ghost to a psychiatrist?"

"You're a crazy little _boy_ with a bitch mother too! We already know sending you to a shrink didn't work!" The uncovered eye on his forehead glowed brightly. "She's at work again." he gripped the hilt of his sword and disappeared from the room.

Jin and Touya both used their more potent techniques to try and break through the seemingly invincible windows of the living room. Touya used a great deal of his energy fling Shards of Winter at the unfreezing glass. Jin slammed into the doors with his Tornado Fists, but only hurt his knuckles. "Touya, buddy, I think I have what sailors call 'cabin fever'." He said breathing fast.

"Just be calm, Jin," the ice master said, "if there's a way to break something, its you; we'll get out of here soon enough."

Jin stood on solid ground, smacking his forehead against the wall unhappily, "I can't go no more. I'm out. I give up." He muttered sadly. Touya stopped his work and looked at Jin. He was shivering, rubbing his arms for warmth. Touya's Shards of Winter were freezing the inside of the house. "Look, we shouldn't give up; lets just try somewhere-"

"Touya?" Jin looked up from the door; Touya was missing. Cursing colorfully in Gaelic, he listened from any sounds. A small noise made him look up. The ice Master was suspended in mid air, clawing at his collar. Jin flew up next to him, "Touya, wha's wrong? Why are ye floatin'?" Touya's face turned a shade of blue to match his hair, "He's choking'," Jin started to scream as loud as he could, "YOU'LL NOT HAVE HIM, LET HIM GO! COME OUT AND FIGHT YA BLOODY COWARD!"

Stupid. Challenging a supernatural entity. That's Jin. The doors to the room slammed shut; Touya dropped to the floor gasping and coughing. Jin darted to his friend's side, "Are ya' all right, buddy?" Touya rubbed his throat and nodded. They had not even stood up and taken two steps when they heard a squish beneath their feet. Looking down, they discovered they were ankle deep in a dark liquid and rising. "Blood," Jin said. The level of dark red rose to his knees. "She's trying to drown us! Touya, try the doors!" the two struggled with the other doors to the room, but they were useless. They tried various attacks on the wood, but it didn't even scratch it. The level rose almost to Jin's chest; Touya was up to his chin. "Touya, get on my shoulders, you have to bang on the door before the level gets over yer head!" Jin cried.

"But you'll drown!"

"Not as fast as you would, now get up here!" Touya obeyed and climbed up on the Wind master's shoulders. He pounded his fists on the doors with all his yokai might. They screamed for help until their throats grew sore. Jin took one last breath before the level rose above his head, sloshing around Touya's waist. The ceiling was not a foot away from his outstretched arm. The ice master continued to beat the doors, too terrified to even make coherent words. Blood swirled around his chest; 'I'm going to die.' he thought sadly.

Suddenly, the door cracked, and then slammed open. A red tidal wave roared into the hall, and Touya was pulled under until the liquid leveled and soaked into the carpet. Touya sat up, sputtering, and retching in disgust. "Touya!" a voice called. He looked up and saw Lil, Kurama, and Hiei dangling from a light fixture. The plaster gave away but they all managed to land on their feet. "Touya, what happened?" Lil asked, using her hands to squeegee his face. His blue and green hair was a dark, reddish-brown. "It was Her again," he whispered.

"Lil! Get over here and revive this baka!" Hiei said. Jin had nearly drowned and needed a swift press on his chest to expel the red liquid from his lungs. He sat up and shivered, trying desperately to clean his hands with petrified disgust. "Come on Jin, Touya; let's get you two cleaned up." Lil said, sympathetically squeezing is shoulder. Though the power was out, the plumbing was still in working order. The five waited for each other to use the only bathroom with a window for light.

Returning to the safety of the cellar, what with its absence of sharp or dangerous objects, they began to talk in hushed voices. They had until the next day to stop her or someone would die, maybe all of them. They had to put Chesa to rest, but they couldn't do that until they found her body. "There are millions of places her body could be. And we can't leave the house, so what's the use?" Yusuke said.

"I have _had_ it with your negative thinking, Yusuke! Maybe we are all going to die horribly at the hands of a little girl! Then again maybe we won't if we keep our heads!" Keiko roared, causing the teen to shrink away in terror. "So lets try and think about this and not give up, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Lil jumped up and shouted, "I've got it!"


	10. Revelation

Chapter 10

The Revelation

"What? What have you got?" Yusuke asked.

"I know where Chesa's body is. She foresaw her own death and drew a picture of it, right?" Hiei and Kurama nodded, "She was electrocuted in the bathtub," he said.

"I read in a book about criminals that they leave evidence near the scene of the crime. Tear up all the bathrooms in the house and we'll find at least another clue, if not her body." Lil went out of the cellar one last time, followed by every one else. "Every one split into pairs with your roommates and search your bathrooms for anything suspicious. I'll check my bathroom alone, as much as I don't want to. "

They ran up stairs and separated, flung bath rugs around and pulled down curtains, overturned baskets and other things. They met back in the hall pair by pair and waited for Lil. "We left her alone again, damn it!" Yusuke cursed and ran into her room, kicking the door down to the bathroom. Lil lay face down on the floor, unconscious. "LIL!" Yusuke screamed; Chesa could reach her in the dream world and kill her. He picked her up and hastily set her on her bed. The others ran in and crowded around her. Kurama pushed his way through, checking her pulse. "Her heart is beating fast," he said. Hiei removed the ward to his Jagan, "her mind is racing; she is in the girl's control." She began to twitch spasmodically.

"Neural kinetics, heart rate, blood pressure; all are way higher than they should be. She's having a heart attack." Kurama turned and looked at the clock, "one hour until midnight, the fourth."

_How can you see into my eyes like open doors_

_Leading you down into my core  
Where I've become so numb_

Lil stood in the darkness, bristling. "Why are you doing this to us, Chesa? We don't want hurt you, we just want to help!"

_Without a soul my spirit sleeping somewhere cold_

_Until you find it there and lead it back home_

A little girl walked into view, "I don't want you to take papa away from me like mommy did. You won't take my happiness away!" She growled, her eyes changing into reptilian orbs. Next to Chesa, a large brown animal appeared looking like something from her drawings. "Kill her," Chesa commanded, pointing towards Lil. With a shriek, the teen bolted in the opposite direction, into a crayon-drawn forest. The beast charged after her on its unevenly shaped legs, snapping its mouth full of sharp teeth. A huge bird with scissor-like talons swooped out of the sky and made a grab for Lil. "Chesa, stop this! We don't want to fight you!" she cried. Images of the little girl's face floated around her, laughing. Lil came to a crooked house; it was very familiar. She ran in and tore up the stairs as more ghastly animals chased her. Lil tripped and fell on her front on the stairs. Turning, she watched the animals come closer to her, growling and gnashing their teeth; she put her hands up, screaming.

Hiei's mind raced, they had only one way of helping her while she was in this state. Putting two of his fingers together, he jabbed Kurama in the neck; Kurama fell over unconscious. "What are you doing, Hiei!" Yusuke shouted.

"Killing us." He said, pressure-pointing the others. "We can leave our bodies and help Lil in the dream world; if we hurry, we can still make it back to our bodies before we die." After they all had fallen to the floor, he pressured himself and fell to the floor, twitching. The flow of blood to his brain was slowly constricting, he had about ten minutes before he was dead. His spirit popped out of is body, hovering over his self. He looked at the others lying on the floor, "C'mon! Get out! You can come out of your bodies and be back before you die! We have to help Lil!"

_Wake me up_

_Wake me up inside  
I can't wake up_

_Wake me up inside_

_Save me_

_Call my name and save me from the dark_

_Wake me up_

_Bid my blood to run_

_I can't wake up_

_Before I come undone_

_Save me_

_Save me from the nothing I've become_

Yusuke shuddered violently and arched his back, a transparent image flowing out of him. Yusuke's ghost form floated over his body. "Am I dead?" he asked as the others were released from their bodies. Hiei lead them all into Lil's head and into her dream. "Lets kick some ghost butt!" Kuwabara said, flying through the childish forest. They came to the house and burst through the door; each of the ten companions wore a scowl and attacked the monsters in the house with their fists, even Yukina. Lil was freed from the grasp of a clawed animal. Several deep cuts had appeared on her skin. "You came for me?" she asked.

_Now that I know what I'm without_

_You can't just leave me_

_Breathe into me and make me real_

_Bring me to life_

"Of course we did!" Botan said cheerily. Hiei pushed the bubbly ferry-girl out of the way, "Lil, your heart; you're going to die if this dream keeps up. We can't stay here long; we have to get back to our bodies before time runs out."

_Wake me up_

_Wake me up inside  
I can't wake up_

_Wake me up inside_

_Save me_

"I can't wake up until I find her, Hiei." Lil pleaded.

Yusuke nodded, "We'll stall these crappy creatures as long as we can, you just try to get through to Chesa." Before Lil could feel relieved, the walls oozed blood and the lights became dim and shadowy. Chesa stood at the top of the stairs; her brown hair stood on end, writhing like the head of Medusa. "You won't get papa away from me!" she roared in an unnatural voice.

_Call my name and save me from the dark_

_Wake me up_

_Bid my blood to run_

_I can't wake up_

_Before I come undone_

_Save me_

_Save me from the nothing I've become_

"Chesa, your father is dead! He's probably been dead for years!" Lil said, slowly climbing the stairs towards the girl.

_Frozen inside without your touch, without your love darling _

_only you are the life among the dead _

The stairway stretched and became a jagged strip of land over an empty chasm of darkness. Flying monsters swirled around her as she struggled up the rocky stairs, clinging to the rail. The others fought the beasts as best as they could, unable to use reiki. Wind and lightning swept around them like some nightmare storm. "No! Papa isn't dead, you're lying!"

_All this time I can't believe I couldn't see_

_Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me _

_I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems_

_Got to open my eyes to everything  
Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul  
Don't let me die here  
There must be something more_

"Chesa, it's been fifty years since your death." Lil said, dodging a demon-bird flying around her head. "Your father could not have lived that long to be alive to day. Please, you have to believe me! The man who lives here now is my grandfather!" The little girl's eyes wavered; tears welled up in the monstrous orbs. Lil came closer to the top, never breaking eye contact with her. "Your mother is dead too, she can't hurt you anymore. Please, stop this and let us help you."

"Lil, we're fading!" Yusuke cried. Lil looked back over her shoulder to him; his hands were becoming more and more transparent. "We have to get back to our bodies!"

"Give me a minute!" she yelled back. She turned back to the little girl, Chesa started to cry; her hair fell around her shoulders and the wind disappeared. The stairs began to shatter beneath their feet. Lil scrambled up the steps toward the falling child. Her companions screamed as they were sucked out of the dream world.

_Wake me up_

_Wake me up inside  
I can't wake up_

_Wake me up inside_

_Save me_

_Call my name and save me from the dark_

_Wake me up_

_Bid my blood to run_

_I can't wake up_

_Before I come undone_

_Save me_

_Save me from the nothing I've become_

The ground broke completely and Lil fell with Chesa. She grabbed the little girl out of the air; Chesa buried her face in Lil's shoulder, "I'm sorry!" she sobbed.

_Bring me to life_

_I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside_

_Bring me to life_

Hiei woke up to a throbbing in his neck. He jabbed himself in the vital artery in his neck, reparing the damage to the vessel and the blood to his brain, roughly saving his own life. He quickly did the same to the others, pulling them away from death. Blood had started to come out of his nose by the time every one else was awake. Yukina stood, supported by Botan and Keiko, "Where is Lil, did she make it?" Lil was not in her bed. Hiei scanned the house with his Jagan, "Chesa's power is waning, I can see her now. She's upstairs, on the fourth floor." They tore out of the room, stampeding up th stairs. The attic was cold and empty. Kurama searched Chesa's room, "She's not in here." Yusuke eyed the only other door in the room. It was right next to Chesa's room. He wrenched the door open and gasped. The others crowded behind him to see.

The room was a dark, windowless bathroom. A transparent form hovered in the air, with wild blonde hair and green eyes. Lil cradled a smaller figure in her arms, a child with long brown hair in a tattered white nightgown. The glowing spirits descended slowly towards the bathtub. Lil's spirit laid down with Chesa's, falling back into her body, which rested in the tub. In Lil's arms was the old corpse of the little girl, right where she died. Lil whispered in her sleep, "It's okay now, Chesa, you can rest." The tub had long since dried up, but the antique toaster was still there, lieing at Lil's feet, still plugged in. Yusuke sighed, "It's done, she's at peace."

A while later, Lil woke up and midnight had passed. The doors and windows to the house opened and a sharp breeze passed out of the house like a sigh. They wrapped Chesa's body in a thick, clean, pink quilt and carried her into the woods. Each of the boys helped dig a very deep grave near the whispering river, under a tree with beautiful, fiery leaves; a peacefull spot. The girls lowered the small body into the grave and buried her, praying for her and set a flat stone at the head of the grave. It read: Chesa Birth- 1 4 '52 Death- 11 4 '60 _Love her like she loves you. _

The sun rose, pale and pink over the hills, and the eleven companions rested in their beds for the first time in days. The sun was climbing the sky at 11:37 a.m. when the phone by Lil's bed rang. She answered it sleepily, "Hu-llo?"

"Good morning sushine!"

"Grampa!" she grinned and jumped out of bed.

"I'm coming home to day, dear." Lil streaked through the hall way, banging on the doors and shouting at the top of her lungs. "Grampa's coming home! Grampa's coming home!" they piled out onto the porch, watching the yellow taxi pull into the drive way. Hiei allowed himself a small smile as they welcomed the man back with many hugs and slaps on the shoulder. When they finished rejoicing, they entered the house again. James stopped dead in his tracks; a strange, congeled red liquid had soaked his carpet in several rooms, coffee grounds were all over the place, various articles of furniture were upturned and balanced in curious places like ceiling fans and the tops of book shelves, windows were broken, and to top it all off… several rows of foot prints showed they had tracked in mud.

"Grandaughter?" he said quietly, watching from the corner of his eye as the others tip-toed away.

"Yes sir?"

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY HOUSE?"

END.

Props to the band Evanescence


End file.
